This month in movie history.
While art in any form, be it films or books or music, is sometimes mired in the current or even the next big thing, looking back can afford a glimpse into that very present and future. So this month, I decided to take a little stroll down memory lane and see how things have progressed since my teenage years and what affect the films of yesterday have had on films of today.

25 YEARS AGO:

• The Breakfast Club: Since James Dean bawled “You’re tearing me apart!” in Rebel Without a Cause in 1955, high school teenagers had, for the most part, been largely ignored on the big screen. Sure, you had the thirty-somethings posing as teenagers in the gleeful sex musical Grease, but that was hardly an honest representation of teen angst in the 70s. You had The Graduate and American Graffiti but those were movies about teenagers entering adulthood as they egressed the relative safety their high school years. Not until John Hughes defined the 1980s high school experience with this examination of the multi-clique social structure did teenagers inside the rough-and-tumble world of high school get fair representation. Even if you didn’t identify with any of these characters, continue reading…

It’s a requirement of every blog. At the end of each year/decade/millennium, every cineaste, film fan, movie maven, what-have-you, is obliged to recap his or her favorite flicks of that timespan. continue reading…

Next year the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences is going to extend its list of best picture nominees to ten. That’s quite an extraordinary feat considering I have trouble selecting five nominees in any given year. continue reading…

We all have our own personal movie favorites to watch at Christmas time. For most the preferred film is It’s a Wonderful Life. For me it’s an eclectic mix of expected and unexpected films that fills me with holiday cheer. continue reading…

In a world of Madoffs and rip-offs, wary (and weary) consumers still need financial advice.

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I have over 500 movies on DVD. That’s not unique and certainly nowhere near a record. I ran out of shelf space years ago and now the bulk of my movies resides in a large DVD case that sits unobtrusively on the floor. continue reading…

If there is an inferiority curse that struck the odd-numbered installments of the Star Trek movies (a jinx that reversed itself after number 6), then surely there is a correlating and inverse malediction for the Harry Potter features. continue reading…

Gut reaction: I came to Star Trek very guarded. After all, the much-celebrated J.J. Abrams’ first attempt at film theatricality was the tedious and prosaic Mission: Impossible III, and his first role as producer was the emetic Cloverfield. continue reading…

I have a secret to tell you, only I can’t. The secret curator of Secret Cinema won’t let me. continue reading…

“Time is fleeting. Madness takes its toll,” chants the stringy-haired character Riff Raff at countless midnight screenings of “The Rocky Horror Picture Show” on any given weekend. At Landmark’s La Jolla Village Cinemas, the sentiment is appropriate to the occasion.

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Keeping busy behind the counter.

Walk a few blocks east of the Gaslamp Quarter and you’ll encounter a casual alternative to Downtown’s trendy hot spots. Located on E Street between 9th and 10th Street, Pokéz offers Mexican food in addition to both vegetarian and vegan options.

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Clint Eastwood is probably one of America’s most mature contemporary directors, and I’m not talking about his age. continue reading…

The best movie house in San Diego may be a place you’ve never heard of.

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